Showing posts with label Bradly Goethals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bradly Goethals. Show all posts

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Forward returns to Silvertips . . . Update on Patrick . . . Warriors romp in Saskatoon

F Jens Meilleur (Brandon, 2010-14) has been released by the Nuremberg Ice Tigers (Germany, DEL) at his request. He was pointless in four games. This season, he had two assists in seven games while on loan to Bayreuth (Germany, DEL2) and was pointless in one game while on loan to Weiden (Germany, Oberliga).
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Jesse Geleynse of the Everett Herald tweeted Thursday that F Bradly Goethals has returned to the Everett Silvertips.
Goethals, 18, from Ile-des-Chenes, Man., was acquired from the Brandon Wheat Kings on Oct. 11 for a conditional seventh-round selection in the 2018 WHL bantam draft. Goethals joined the Silvertips after the trade, but left shortly afterwards for what was said to be personal reasons.
Last season, he put up 74 points, 41 of them goals, for the midget AAA Eastman Selects. He led the
Manitoba Midget Hockey League in goals and points. He also had three goals in one game with the MJHL’s Selkirk Steelers and a goal and an assist in five games with the MJHL’s Dauphin Kings.
The Silvertips, of course, are the WHL’s top defensive team, but surely could use an injection of offensive talent. All Goethals has to do is buy into head coach Kevin Constantine’s structured defensive game to earn enough playing time to be able to exercise his offensive skills.
The Silvertips had their defensive game on display in Kamloops on Wednesday night and an Everett fan could make the argument that circumstances conspired against the visitors in this one.
A Kamloops fan would say that the Blazers’ goaltender was better than Everett’s in this one — not by much, but enough to win.
The Blazers, who had been terrible in a 7-0 loss to the visiting Prince George Cougars on Saturday night, were much better against Everett, but still needed superb goaltending from Connor Ingram before beating the Silvertips 2-1 in OT.
The Blazers were being outshot 22-7 when Everett scored its only goal, at 12:12 of the second period, and the edge was 27-12 going into the third period.
However, the Silvertips had played at home the night before — they beat the Calgary Hitmen, 6-1 — and got into Kamloops in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. And it started to show in the latter stages of the second period.
The Silvertips got caught running around in their zone for maybe the only time all night at 15:31 when Kamloops F Rudolfs Balcers was able to beat a stickless Carter Hart with a high shot.
The OT lasted 11 seconds and the flagging Silvertips were no match for the Blazers’ speed 3-on-3, with Balcers ending the game as he finished off a give-and-go-go with linemate Deven Sideroff.
By game’s end, the Blazers had closed the gap on the shot clock to 34-23.
Everett’s offence is averaging 3.25 goals per game, 10th-best in the WHL, while it is far and away No. 1 on defence at 1.95, with the Prince George Cougars next at 2.55.
The Silvertips (15-2-4) and Cougars (16-4-2) are tied atop the WHL’s overall standings, with the Regina Pats (15-0-3) just a point off the pace. The high-flying Pats are scoring 5.78 goals per game, almost a goal more than the Medicine Hat Tigers (4.80) and two up on the Tri-City Americans (3.81). If you’re wondering, Regina’s defence is ninth, allowing 3.17 goals per game.
If Goethals can stick around and add even a little bit to Everett’s offence, Constantine and general manager Garry Davidson will be thrilled. If not, well, the trade deadline is less than two months away.
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F Nolan Patrick of the Brandon Wheat Kings, the consensus No. 1 pick in the NHL’s 2017 draft, has told NHL.com that he expects to miss another two to three weeks. Patrick, who underwent sports hernia surgery in July and missed most of training camp, has played only six games this season, putting up four goals and five assists. He last played on Oct. 11. . . . "I'm skating on my own right now," Patrick told Mike Morreale of nhl.com. "I’m just starting getting back on the ice (this week) and doing edge work and skill stuff like that, but nothing too intense yet. Every day it gets a little better, so I'm hopeful. This was out of my control, and it's killing me not to be out there with my teammates." . . . Patrick still hopes to get an invitation to the Canadian national junior team’s selection camp. He likely will be on the list that Hockey Canada says will come out on Nov. 29. The selection camp is scheduled to open Dec. 11 in Blainville, Que. If Patrick isn’t back with Brandon for another three weeks, the time line would seem to be a bit tight. . . . Morreale’s story is right here.
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The Brandon Wheat Kings posted the above tweet on Thursday afternoon. We have determined that No. 6 is D Dean Kennedy, who was the captain of the Wheat Kings at the time. If you have any idea who the other player might be, drop me an email at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
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The Spokane Chiefs have signed Chris Moulton to a contract through 2017-18 and named him assistant general manager, hockey operations. Moulton has been with the Chiefs since 2005 when he signed on as director of player personnel. . . . Before joining the Chiefs, he scouted with the Calgary Hitmen. . . . The Chiefs also have signed Todd Daniels, their athletic trainer and conditioning coach, through 2017-18. He has been with them since 2008.
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John Tortorella, the head coach of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, suggested earlier this week that game-day skates are over-rated. . . . Mike Benton, the radio voice of the Everett Silvertips, asked head coach Kevin Constantine for his thoughts. Here’s Constantine’s answer:
“We do everything with trying to add a bit of science and study to make sure our facts are facts and not just an idea. We have found ourselves that we are much better by not skating. All the analytics and studies we’ve done we’re a better team when we don’t skate in the morning and we save the energy for the game at night.”
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Have you ever wondered how much money is to be made by playing hockey in Europe? Well, let us take a look at F Aaron Gagnon, a product of Armstrong, B.C. Gagnon, now 30, played five seasons with the Seattle Thunderbirds before going on to a pro career that includes 38 NHL games — 21 with the Dallas Stars and 17 with the Winnipeg Jets. . . . Gagnon went to Europe for 2013-14 and now is into his fourth season with Lukko Rauma in the Finnish Liiga, that country’s top league.
Every October, the Finnish government publishes a list of individuals who earned at least 100,000 euros and their taxable income for the previous year as reported on their tax returns. The list that was published last month is for 2015 and Gagnon shows up as having the fourth-highest taxable income for a paid hockey player during that period.
According to the list, Gagnon earned 252,904 euros. At Thursday’s exchange rates, he made Cdn$363,300 (US$268,058).
That might be something for today’s junior/college players to ponder.
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Coaching
Mark McNaughton has stepped in as the interim general manager and head coach of the junior B Princeton Posse of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. . . . He replaces Geoff Goodman, who was fired on Wednesday. The Posse also fired associate coach Lance Vaillancourt. . . . Goodman was in his second season in Princeton. . . . McNaughton had been the Posse’s director of hockey operations.
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Concussion Report
These days, Bob McKeown is the co-host of the fifth estate, CBC-TV’s investigative show. In another life, he played for the CFL’s Ottawa Rough Riders. In fact, he played enough football during his athletic career that he writes “I happen to know something about concussions in football because . . . I’ve had a lot of them.” . . . This is scary and interesting stuff, and it’s all right here.
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THURSDAY’S GAME:


At Saskatoon, F Luka Burzan and F Noah Gregor each had two goals and an assist as the Moose Jaw Warriors skated to a 5-1 victory over the Saskatoon Blades. . . . Burzan, who has seven goals, gave the
Blades a 2-0 lead with goals at 18:39 of the first period and 1:40 of the second. . . . Burzan drew an assist on Gregor’s eighth goal, at 7:00 of the second, that gave the visitors a 3-0 lead. . . . F Wyatt Sloboshan (3) got the Blades to within two goals at 7:23. . . . Warriors F Jayden Halbgewachs got that one back when he scored No. 13, on a PP, at 11:39. . . . Gregor closed out the scoring with a shorthanded goal at 4:03 of the third period. . . . F Nikita Popugaev had three assists for the Warriors, with D Matt Sozanski earning two. . . . G Zach Sawchenko stopped 32 shots for the Warriors, two more than Saskatoon’s Brock Hamm. . . . The Warriors were 1-2 on the PP; the Blades were 0-4. . . . Moose Jaw (12-4-4) had lost its previous three games. . . . The Blades slid to 9-12-1. . . . F Brayden Burke was pointless in his debut with the Warriors after being acquired last week from the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . The Blades will complete a stretch of three games in as many nights by playing in Brandon on Friday and Saturday. . . . Announced attendance: 3,302.
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FRIDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

Saskatoon at Brandon, 7:30 p.m.
Vancouver at Kelowna, 7:05 p.m.
Edmonton vs. Kootenay, at Cranbrook, B.C., 7 p.m.
Prince Albert at Prince George, 7 p.m.
Lethbridge vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:35 p.m.
Calgary at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.
Medicine Hat at Red Deer, 7 p.m.
Moose Jaw at Swift Current, 7 p.m.
Kamloops vs. Tri-City, at Kennewick, Wash., 7:05 p.m.




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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 8:33 PM
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Thursday, August 25, 2016

Chynoweth blows whistle on import draft . . . Royals make front-office move . . . Chiefs goaltender retires



F Grant Toulmin (Swift Current, 2005-07, 2008-09) has signed a one-year contract with Katowice (Poland, PHL). Last season, with the Manchester Storm (England, UK Elite), he had 53 points, including 35 assists, in 61 games. This summer, he played with the Sydney Ice Dogs (Australia, AIHL), putting up 15 goals and 16 assists in 21 games. The AIHL regular season ended on Sunday; the Ice Dogs missed the playoffs. . . .
F Adam Courchaine (Medicine Hat, Vancouver, 2001-05) has signed a one-year contract with Székesfehérvár (Hungary, Erste Bank Liga). Last season, with Hradec Králové (Czech Republic, Extraliga), he had 17 goals and 13 assists in 48 games. He tied for the team lead in goals. Courchaine signed a two-year extension with Hradec Králové in January, but terminated the contract prior to signing with Székesfehérvár.
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Jeff Chynoweth, the president and general manager of the Kootenay Ice, has had enough of the CHL import draft as it presently exists. Chynoweth, the son of the late Ed Chynoweth, the long-time head of the CHL and WHL, told Taylor Rocca of the Cranbrook Townsman on Thursday that too many
CHL teams cut deals with player agents before the draft is even held.
“Until the CHL changes the rules of the import draft, nothing is going to change,” Chynoweth told Rocca. “I know when my dad was in charge of the CHL, he would recognize and strive to address the issues. Right now, to me, it looks like the commissioners of the OHL and QMJHL look the other way and are ignoring a serious problem when it comes to the import draft. It's broken.
“It’s the haves and the have-nots. It’s not a level playing field. Something has to be done about it.”
Chynoweth claims that “the Western Hockey League polices itself against the backdoor deals that go on with the import draft.”
The Ice had the first selection in this year’s import draft and took Russian F Klim Kostin, a 17-year-old who is projected as an early selection in the NHL’s 2017 draft. Originally, Chynoweth had high hopes for landing Kostin, but he has signed with the KHL’s Moscow Dynamo.
(The Ice’s other import pick, Russian D Nikita Radzivilyuk, 17, is expected to arrived in Cranbrook this weekend, in time to take part in training camp.)
It long has been known that player agents drive the annual import draft, oftentimes picking and choosing to which teams clients will report. It has been suggested at times that the CHL needs to go to a system in which a player has to opt into the draft and, in doing so, agrees to play for the team that selects him.
Chynoweth has come around to agree with that line of thinking.
“Critics will say an opt-in doesn't guarantee a player is coming,” he told Rocca. “Absolutely it doesn't. But at least you know that Kootenay or London have the same list of players to choose from.
“Until we do that, it's not a level playing field.”
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Enio Sacilotto has moved from the bench to the front office with the Victoria Royals, Sacilotto, a veteran coach, had been a Royals’ assistant coach for  six seasons, going back to their days as the Chilliwack Bruins (remember them?). . . . Sacilotto, 58, has been named the Royals’ director of prospect development and also will work as a scout. . . . A vacancy was created earlier in the week when Grant Armstrong, the Royals’ assistant GM, player personnel, signed on with the Brandon Wheat Kings as general manager. . . . The Royals now are looking for a head coach to work alongside Dave Lowry. . . . Sacilotto ran the Royals’ bench at times last season, going 5-6-2 while Lowry was tending to duties as the head coach of Canada’s national junior team.
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If you were wondering why Tim Speltz, then the Spokane Chiefs’ general manager, acquired G Jayden Sittler, 20, from the Lethbridge Hurricanes earlier this summer, well, you have your answer. . .


. Tyson Verhelst, a 19-year-old native of Brandon, has chosen to retire. Verhelst played in 81 games for the Chiefs over the past two seasons, including 55 in 2015-16 when he was 23-22-5, 3.16, .892. . . . “It’s a tough one,” Speltz told Thomas Clouse of the Spokane Spokesman-Review. “(Verhelst) had an injury. He suddenly lost his passion. When we traded for Sittler, I knew we were in trouble.” . . . . As things now stand, Sittler will open the season as the Chiefs’ starter. The backup is expected to be either Matthew Berlin or Donovan Buskey. Berlin, 18, is from Edmonton and was a seventh-round pick in the 2013 bantam draft. Buskey, 16, is from North Vancouver. He was a third-round pick in the 2015 bantam draft. . . . Speltz stepped down as GM earlier this month in order to join the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs as head western scout. However, he continues to help the Chiefs through the transition.
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F Massimo Rizzo hasn’t signed with the Kamloops Blazers, who selected him 15th overall in the WHL’s 2016 bantam draft, but he will be in their rookie camp when it opens (today) Friday at the Sandman Centre. . . . Rizzo, from Burnaby, B.C., played for the Penticton Vees as they beat the West Kelowna Warriors 2-0 in a BCHL exhibition game on Wednesday night, then left for Kamloops on Thursday. . . . During an appearance on Radio NL’s Jim Harrison Show earlier this month, Blazers majority owner Tom Gaglardi indicated that he didn’t foresee a problem in signing Rizzo but acknowledged that the family had said it wanted time to consider the options. . . . One WHL insider told Taking Note on Thursday that the family “told everyone they were thinking college” prior to the draft. . . . After watching Rizzo on the ice and then in Wednesday’s game, Penticton assistant coach Jason Becker, a former WHL player and assistant coach, told Taking Note: “He looked pretty good . . . he’s a special player.” . . . Last season, with the bantam AAA Burnaby Winter Club Bruins, Rizzo had 137 points, including 60 goals, in 61 games.
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F Nick Merkley, who had his 2015-16 season short-circuited by a knee injury that required surgery, won’t attend the Kelowna Rockets’ training camp. Merkley, 19, is skating but hasn’t been cleared for contact. He was a first-round selection by Arizona in the 2015 NHL draft and is expected to rejoin the Rockets at some point. . . . Larry Fisher of the Kelowna Daily Courier also reports right here that the Rockets are expected to begin with F Rod Southam, their captain, G Michael Herringer and F Riley Stadel, a former defenceman, as their 20-year-olds.
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In an intriguing move, the Regina Pats have offered F Nick Henry, 17, a roster spot if he signs a WHL contract. Henry was the MJHL’s rookie of the year last season after putting up 61 points, including 26 goals, in 50 games with his hometown Portage Terriers. . . . Henry, whose rights the Pats acquired from the Everett Silvertips, has made a verbal commitment to attend Western Michigan U, but has agreed to attend the Pats’ training camp. . . . Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post has that and more right here.
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According to Perry Bergson of the Brandon Sun, F Bradly Goethals is expected to be in the Brandon Wheat Kings’ training camp when it opens on Wednesday. Goethals, 18, won the Manitoba Midget AAA League scoring title with 74 points, including 41 goals, in 43 games with the Eastman Selects. He is from Iles-des-Chenes, Man., and had made a commitment to Bemidji State. . . . Bergson also reported that F Tak Anholt also is expected in camp. Anholt, 18, reported to the Wheat Kings last season but didn’t get into any games, then left for what the team said was personal reasons. He was a second-round selection by the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the 2013 bantam draft. The Wheat Kings acquired Anholt, along with F Reid Duke and D Macoy Erkamps, from the Hurricanes for D Kord Pankewicz, F Brett Kitt and F Ryley Lindgren on Sept. 30, 2014.
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NHLFormer WHLer Jared Bednar is the new head coach of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. He replaces Patrick Roy, who quit earlier this month. . . . According to Mike Chambers of the Denver Post, Bednar and the Avs agreed to a three-year contract. . . . Bednar had been head coach of the Cleveland Monsters, who won the AHL championship last season as the Lake Erie Monsters. Interestingly, Bednar has never played or coached in the NHL. . . . The other finalist was Lane Lambert, a former WHL player and coach, who now is an assistant coach with the NHL’s Washington Capitals. . . . Colorado general manager Joe Sakic made the final decision while in Seattle where his son, Chase, is in the training camp of the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds. Chase, a forward, will turn 16 on Oct. 14. . . . Bednar, 44, played three seasons (1990-93) in the WHL, with the Saskatoon Blades, Spokane Chiefs, Medicine Hat Tigers and Prince Albert Raiders. . . . A native of Yorkton, Sask., Bednar has been in the coaching game since 2002-03. . . . Reports that Travis Green, the head coach of the AHL’s Utica Comets, was in the running for the Colorado position weren’t accurate. A source has told Taking Note that Green, a former Portland Winterhawks assistant GM and assistant coach, doesn’t have an out-clause in his contract that would allow him to leave at this time. The Comets are the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks.
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The NHL’s Las Vegas franchise, which is to begin play in 2017-18, has added yet another WHLer to its front office. Erin Ginnell, who played for five teams (New Westminster Bruins, Calgary Wranglers, Seattle Thunderbirds, Regina Pats and Swift Current Broncos) over two seasons (1985-87), has joined Las Vegas as an amateur scout. . . . Ginnell, the son of the late Pat Ginnell, has been an NHL scout since 2000-01, working with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers. He spent 14 seasons with the Panthers, the last five as their director of amateur scouting. . . . Ginnell’s son, Brad, is in camp with the Portland Winterhawks.  He was a fifth-round pick in the 2015 bantam draft. . . . Las Vegas also has added Scott Luce as its director of amateur scouting. He had been Florida’s director of player personnel. . . . Luce and Ginnell both found themselves unemployed when Florida shuffled GM Dale Tallon upstairs and put Tom Rowe in charge. . . . In recent days, Las Vegas has signed at least four other people with WHL experience — Murray Craven (senior vice-president), Kelly McCrimmon (assistant GM), Vaughn Karpan (director of player personnel) and Bruno Campese (amateur scout).
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The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) announced this week that — wait for it! — each of its regular-season games will be worth three points. . . . Here’s how it will work. . . . If a team wins in regulation time, it gets three points. . . . If a team wins during a five-minute sudden-death OT period, it gets three points. The loser doesn’t get a thing. . . . If a game is decided in 3-on-3 OT, which occurs if the five-minute period doesn’t settle things, the winner gets two points, with the loser getting one. . . . If the game needs a shootout, the winner gets two points and the loser gets one. . . . It is going to be interesting to watch the in-season reaction to see if teams push harder to win in regulation or the first OT period.
There also was this paragraph in the news release: “The 3-on-3 overtime and shootouts will only affect the WCHA standings, while any game that is tied after the 5-on-5 overtime remains officially a tie for NCAA purposes. Thus, the WCHA standings will show Wins, Losses, Ties and 3-on-3/Shootout Wins (W-L-T-3/SW). In this format, W-L-T will add up to games played, with the Tie column signifying how many times a team has been to a 3-on-3 overtime or shootout; and, the 3/SW column representing how many games a team has won in that fashion.”
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Got a tip or some information you feel could be useful to me, feel free to email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
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NOTE: There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.
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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 10:22 PM
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